Sometimes my personal life and my Author-it professional life collide. It feels like this is happening this week. The two stories are related – just stay with me on this.

Personal life first

We have owned a Leonberger dog for the last 2+ years, originally gotten to keep the Aussie company and be his best friend. She was about 6 months old when we got her and for about 18 months, all was well in my house. The dogs played together and liked each other very much.

And then something happened.

We don’t know why but the Leonberger no longer likes the Aussie and attacks him given half a chance. This has resulted in several massive scary dog fights. Because combined, they weigh more than I do, the fights were also hard to stop. And someone is going to get badly hurt.

So we hired the trainer we’ve worked with before and did everything she suggested – kept them separate, encouraged happy interactions, etc. All of it. Right down the line. We love these dogs and want to help them be friends again.

Seven months later, it’s not working. The Leo doesn’t like the Aussie. Period. The Leo likes other dogs very much but not the Aussie. The trainer says it’s personal. And personal means we are very limited with what we can do.

After thinking about what’s best for both dogs, we’ve come to the devastating conclusion that one of them has to find a new home. Because we had the Aussie first and because he has health issues, we decided to keep him and turn the Leo over to the local Leonberger Rescue.

The hand-over happens this weekend. There is a lot of sadness and crying in our house. But it’s the right decision, regardless of what we want or how much we love the dog. And we do love her.

Professional life

In the world of content development, we acquire tools and then often fall in love with them. Which is fine – it’s a happy place to love the tools you work with day in and day out.

But sometimes, the situation changes. Perhaps we discover the tool we love very much is not scalable and we’re growing. Perhaps we need a new output format and it’s really hard to get it, using this tool.

Things can change over time.

A new tool may be needed, But it’s hard because you really like the tool you have and it was such a good fit until things changed. You almost feel like a bad tool owner by changing tools.

But a smart professional understands the limits of what they are doing and recognizes sometimes you really do need to get new tools. It’s in the best interest of your content and your users to do so. It’s a hard decision to make but it’s the right decision in the end.

To help you make the decision, you may hire a consultant to advise you. If you do so, take them seriously. If you thought enough of them to hire them, then pay attention to what they recommend.

Why are these stories related?

In the end, you have to make decisions that are best for the situation, which may be very different than what you want.

I want my Leonberger to be best friends again with my Aussie. But that’s not going to happen, in the very experienced opinion of my trusted trainer (my consultant). As a result, both dogs are stressed and potentially I or the dogs are going to be badly hurt.

You may want your tool to work for your group after you add 10 more people. But if the tool was never designed for what you need now, then it’s the wrong tool. You can pretend this is all going to be OK or you can face the facts and make the right decisions.

It’s up to you.

This has been a very busy week for the technical content world.

Author-it 5.5 is released

As you know by now, we released the latest version of Author-it 5.5 to great excitement in the industry. Once again, we’ve redefined the possible in the content authoring and managing world. For more details about what this release includes, click here and then sign up for the free webinar that shows you how the Author-it Reviewer works.

June 1st at 2pm Pacific. As always, if the time or date don’t work for you, sign up anyway to get a link to the recording the next day.

This hour long webinar is a don’t-miss event. We strongly recommend inviting your boss as well. S/he’s going to want to see this. Author-it Reviewer is changing collaborative work forever.

Author-it Learning Center

If you’ve been interested in learning Author-it, we have an option you’re going to love: free, on-demand training.

The Author-it Learning Center includes videos to help you understand the basics of Author-it. You learn what objects are, how to import and author content, and how to customize your outputs.

It’s all online, ready for you to view when you’re ready to learn. Each session is under 15 minutes, making is easy to find the time to learn something new.

Even if you know Author-it, it’s a great way to refresh your skills or review something you may have forgotten. What a great way to get the information you need and move on with your day.

The STC Summit Conference

And finally, this week was the STC Summit Conference. We want to thank the many many people who came by the Author-it booth to find out how our products can make life easier.

150 people wore Author-it tee shirts for the special Apple iPad give away. We talked until we had no voice, gave out chocolate Kiwi Fish, and awarded the iPad to Andrea Wenger.

A great time was had by all, as you can see in the picture below.

Fast update before I get ready for the conference today.

Opening night

Last night, the STC Summit officially opened. The show floor was crazy busy and I think I met nearly everyone who is at the conference. Our booth was flooded with people!

We explained the iPad give away and handed out flyers. Today, I expect we’ll be flooded again. I can’t wait.

The iPad give away

While STC is giving away an iPad, so are we. Here’s how you get in the drawing:

1. About 11am today, come to our booth and watch the demo of the new Reviewer.
2. Get a limited edition t-shirt. We only have 150 of them – far fewer than the conference attendees.
3. Wear your shirt during the conference.
4. At some point, we’ll grab someone wearing the shirt and they win the iPad on the spot.

That’s it! That’s all you have to do.

So, we’ll see you all in the booth!

It’s that magical time of the year, when STC holds its international conference. This year the conference is in Sacramento, California, a short drive from the lovely city of San Francisco. A slightly longer drive from Southern California, where I live, but I’m driving up, nonetheless. I have family there and I’m spending a little time with them before I come home.

If you are at the STC conference and want to talk, stop by the booth. We will be doing in-booth demonstrations during the breaks, so if you want to see some new stuff, this is your chance. If you want to talk about what Author-it can do for you, several of us will be there to do just that. Paul Trotter and Steve Davis will also be there to talk about what we’re doing and what’s coming.

Do you want to win an iPad?

This year, we’re giving away an iPad. You know you want one – I certainly do. To get in the drawing for the iPad, we’re doing something special. Late morning Monday, we’re giving out special, limited edition, Author-it shirts in the Author-it booth. You want one of these.

We only have 150 of these shirts, many fewer than conference attendees. To be eligible for the iPad, you need the special shirt. Then you wear the shirt during the conference. At some point, we’ll select a person wearing the shirt and give them the iPad. You don’t know when we’ll do that, so it’s important to always have your shirt on.

Other prizes

If you miss the shirt, we have other prizes we’re giving away, including a free copy of each of the new Author-it books. You could win Author-it Success in 12 Easy steps by John Hedtke, or Learning Author-it by Char James-Tanny. We’re very excited about these books and think you will be too.

Blogging from the conference

I’m hoping – internet connection willing – to be blogging from the conference. We’re certainly tweeting and posting to FaceBook and Tumblr. Watch our social media for what’s happening at the booth, who is winning prizes, and more.

Good luck on the iPad!

I was away last week at a client site, working with them on how to move to Author-it. They bought Author-it because they see the benefits, but, like a lot of companies who are looking to improve their workflow, they didn’t really know where to start. What would be Best Practices for them? How to get there fast so as to not interrupt the current deadlines?

They also wanted to use this move to better architect their content so they got more value out of what they have.

And so we started

We started with looking at the content they had and how they currently use it. They sell large industrial machines that are sold either 1) “as built” with no customizations, or 2) somewhat to extremely customized. They don’t do online help, so we just looked at producing PDFs. Of course, if they need to someday move to help, that’s super easy for them.

They had been doing docs in InDesign and Ventura and had to copy, save, edit, and rebuild every time a customer wanted a manual 2 type. This process took 1 to 3 days, not counting any new content development or any review time.

What they wanted to know was how to go about this process in Author-it. We walked through how to build a book and  then use variants to create the custom books. They got very excited that the 3 days of production would be reduced to less than a day.

Importing existing content

Then we started importing content from Ventura and InDesign to see what that was going to involve. It’s one thing to get new tools to improve your workflow, but if getting the content into the new tool is hard or impossible, that’s something else entirely.

The good news is that getting the content in from Ventura turned out to be super easy – we had the profile set up in under an hour. This is in large part because the docs staff had stuck to a short list of paragraph formats and didn’t play fast and loose. One of the advantages to a team that has been in place for many years is this sort of rigorous adherence to the templates.

The InDesign docs, however, are a different story. People in and outside the docs group created the InDesign docs. The adherence to the template was, well, less strict. We got the basic profile created pretty quickly, but there is going to be some pre-import work needed to put all the text in InDesign into one flow, instead of the adhoc flows it is in now, for example.

Changes to the workflow

Then we started looking at the workflow issues they needed to change to make this all work. The specific details for them are not important to us here, but the big picture is.

They needed to review how they:

• Import existing content – release states to know what’s been roughly imported, reviewed after import, ready to start publishing, and so on
• Develop content – what is truly new content and what should be reused, where to put content, how to know it’s ready for reviews
• Manage existing content – version, variants, release states, and so on
• Structure and locations of graphics folders- where to put overall graphics, product line graphics, one-off graphics, and so on
• Reuse content – what can be reused vs what is currently being reused, where to put reused content, how to name it, and so on
• Review content – how do they send out just the content that actually needs to be reviewed vs all the content in a manual, and more
• Manage localized content – they don’t do a lot but when they need to they need to right now
• Archive content and understand the history – what topics shipped in what manuals when? When was that topic changed and to what?

In sum

Even if you’re not thinking about moving to Author-it, these are all issues you must face when you move from one tool to another. You certainly can just start dumping your existing content into the new tool, but I think that many of the problems you had with the old tool are still going to be problems in the new one.

It takes planning and work to get the benefits of moving to a tool better suited to the problems you’re trying to solve.

I applaud this client for thinking this through and planning the change. It shows real maturity and that the CEO understands the value of their content.

I was really excited to work with this group and know they will be successful.

A visual

I’m including a photo I took the one warm-ish day I was there. My hotel was right on the Spokane River. One day was sunny and I took a long walk along the river to clear my head after a full day of intensive work. It was great. Being a So Cal girl, I don’t see many rivers. Ones with water, anyway.

(The client was not Kaiser Aluminum, I just liked the lovely river area with the Kaiser plant above the river.)

Are you driven to see your clients succeed?

We are seeking a smart, hardworking, talented and passionate project implementation professionals to join our Global Services team.

You are experienced in implementing and configuring content management systems (CMS).You remain focused during implementation projects and handle client requests with professionalism. You are confident when delivering product training to technical communication professionals. You are comfortable when advising clients in knowledge transfer workshops about Best Practices.

You are success-driven and work efficiently with others including Project Managers, Business Analysts, Developers and Support Analysts. You maintain confidence when approaching deadlines, including times when problems have been identified.

You have a history of gathering and understanding your client’s requirements and then using this information to deliver successful implementation/training projects. You’re not afraid of challenges, you are self-motivated and you go the extra mile for your clients. You gain satisfaction from pulling together a demanding project and seeing it through to a successful conclusion.

If this sounds like you, contact us now!

We need people ready to make a difference, so start today by sending us your CV along with a covering brief telling us how you can contribute to our team.

We offer

Author-it Software Corporation is on a mission and you can be a part of this by helping our clients succeed in implementing and using Author-it.

If successful, you will become an integral team member of the world leader in software for authoring, content management, multi-output publishing, and localization. Our client list reads like a who’s who of the global market and includes companies such as Microsoft, Philips, XEROX, Oracle, and HP.

We offer outstanding working conditions, a competitive salary and flexible working hours. This role will involve domestic and international travel.

We will train you on Author-it plus our implementation and project management methodologies. Most of the training will be on-the-job, directly working on “real” projects for our clients. A mentor will guide and support you over the first few months while you come up to speed.

Consultant Global services – Head Office, Albany, Auckland, NZ

Role Requirements

A full position description is available on request.

Soft Skills

• Comfortable in a fast-paced work and cross-functional team environment.
• Work smart attitude.
• Follow directions and established project methodologies as well as display talent for new ideas and continuous improvement.
• Multi-task and prioritise, organized, accurate and detail orientated.
• Dedicated to making a difference.
• Excellent verbal and written English communication skills.
• Self driven with exceptional time and task management ability.
• Dedicated to making a difference.

Experience and Knowledge

• A qualification in a technical field.
• 3+ years practical experience in providing professional services.
• 1+ years practical experience in using Author-it products preferred.
• Knowledge of the content management industry is preferred including familiarity with documentation processes from authoring to managing and publishing content.
• Proven record of delivering client service meeting or exceeding expectations.
• Ability to understand and communicate using “technical” language.
• Competence in delivery of training (remote via web-meeting and onsite).
• Competence in writing technical publications preferred, e.g. user manuals, help systems, or knowledgebases.
• Competence in Microsoft Word (2007, 2010 including word macros), web technologies (e.g. HTML, XHTML, CSS, XML).
• Competence in windows environment (e.g. AD groups, server environments, VM).
• Prior stable work experience.
• Authorization to work in New Zealand.

Preferable

• 1+ years’ experience using Author-it.
• Knowledge of the content management or technical publications industry.
• Familiarity with the documentation processes from authoring to managing and publishing.
• Authoring background with other technical communication products.
• Competence in Help systems (e.g., HLP, CHM, Web Help, Java Help).
• Knowledge about industry standards (e.g. SCORM, DITA, S1000D).

Client Care Consultant (US-based)

Role Requirements

A full Position Description is available on request.

Soft Skills

• Comfortable in a fast-paced work and cross-functional team environment.
• Work smart attitude.
• Follow directions and established process guidelines as well as display talent for new ideas and continuous improvement.
• Able to multi-task and prioritise, you are organized, accurate and detail orientated.
• Excellent verbal and written English communication skills.
• Self driven with exceptional time and task management ability.
• Must have the attitude of “How can I make things better” and “EXTREMELY satisfying Client service”.
• Ability to build and maintain good relationships with clients.
• Dedicated to making a difference.

Experience and Knowledge

• A tertiary qualification preferably in a technical field.
• 3+ years practical experience in delivering professional services and/or client support in the software industry.
• Proven record of delivering client service meeting or exceeding client expectations.
• Ability to understand and communicate using “technical” language.
• Expert in assisting clients on the phone.
• Ability to analyze requirements and find client focused solutions.
• Professional in complaint management, effective escalation management.
• Competence in all Microsoft products (Word, Office, Power Point), web technologies (e.g. HTML, XHTML, CSS, XML).
• Competence in windows environment (e.g. AD groups, server environments).
• Prior stable work experience.
• Available to work 40 hours per week and work a shift arrangement to accommodate all US time zones.
• Authorization to work in the United States.

Preferable

• 1+ years’ experience using Author-it.
• Knowledge of the content management or technical publications industry.
• Familiarity with the documentation processes from authoring to managing and publishing.
• Authoring background with other technical communication products.
• Competence in Help systems (e.g., HLP, CHM, Web Help, Java Help).
• Knowledge about industry standards (e.g. SCORM, DITA, S1000D).

To apply

We work hard, but enjoy our work and there are some great perks to being part of the Author-it team! Join our global team with members in Europe, Middle East, Asia, Australasia and the US – take your first step today!

To apply, email: ralf.wittgen@author-it.com.

No 9-5vers please; we need consultants who are fully committed and want to make a difference!

No recruiters please!

This is a short post, as I’m getting ready to visit with a client next week and need to wrap up projects before I do that. It’s been a rather frantic week.

But if you’re in Spokane, Washington and want to have evening drinks, send contact me and we’ll make a date.

Good news 1

Two new books are coming out about Author-it! I have specific information about the first book now and will share more about the second book in a week or two.

Learning Author-it by Char James-Tanny from XML Press is available this month. Char is a long time user of Author-it, Author-it consultant, and an all around smart person so this book should be very helpful as a reference to learning and using Author-it. I’ve not seen a copy yet, but we’re all very excited about this book.

Good news 2

This week, Paul Trotter gave a free webinar about his vision of the future of content development. We had nearly 300 people sign up, despite the day being Easter Monday holiday for much of the world. We knew the day might not be the best, but with Paul’s travel schedule, it was the only day we could get his attention for an hour.

If you missed this interesting webinar, click here to view the recording.

Lastly

I really hope to see you at the STC Summit in 2 weeks or so. We’ll have New Zealand chocolate fish to give out Monday and Tuesday, as well as interesting and informative activities in the booth.

Don’t forget the special Facebook giveaway – go to our Facebook page (Author-it) and “Like” the page to be entered into a special drawing. We have something very Kiwi to give away to the winner. You don’t have to be at the STC Summit to win.

Regardless of where you are in the world, we at Author-it would like to wish you a Happy Easter weekend.

For people in New Zealand and most of Europe, you have a 3 or 4 day holiday. It sounds like a great time to spend with your family, napping, or what ever makes you happy.

In the US, we don’t get any extra time off from work for Easter, but, as my Kiwi cohort mentioned yesterday, we do get Thanksgiving in November as a long holiday. For my cohort, the similarities are both long holidays are late Fall, early Winter for the local residents.

Something fun

As something fun, if you are attending the STC Summit in May, go to our Author-it Facebook page and Like us before May 17.  We’ll do a drawing in the booth at the Summit from the names who Like us and give something away.

Winner will be announced at the booth, on twitter, and Facebook. You don’t need to be present at the booth to win but if you are, you can take the prize with you right then.

Don’t forget the exciting webinar Monday the 25th

Don’t forget the exciting webinar next week: Content Development: Future Trends, Future Solutions Webinar, presented by Paul Trotter, Founder and CEO of Author-it Software Corporation. We have a lot of people signed up but we’ve got a little more room.

We will be recording this webinar. If you can’t attend because the date or time don’t work for you, sign up anyway. An email with a link to the recording will be sent to everyone the next day.

Whether it’s Spring or Fall where you are, enjoy the weekend and we’ll see you next week!

There’s a lot going on at Author-it in the near future. We have webinars and are attending conferences. These events provide you an opportunity to learn, ask questions, and meet people.

Product webinars

We have several webinars coming up, some product-specific and some tools-independant.

If you’d like to see what’s coming in Author-it 5.5, we have several webinars available for you over the next several weeks. We also have a webinar in May about importing your legacy content into Author-it.

To sign up for any of these webinars, click here. Remember, we record these webinars and make them available the day after so if the scheduled date or time don’t work for you, sign up anyway and you’ll automatically get a link to the recording the next day.

General webinars

We’re also hosting several tools-independant webinars. If you want to learn more about Component Content Management, we’re offering a webinar on that topic April 28th, 1pm Pacific, 4pm Eastern.

Paul Trotter is sharing his vision for content development April 25 at 1pm Pacific, 4pm Eastern. This is also a good webinar if you’re boss doesn’t quite understand what content development is about and why it’s important in this century.

And May 11 at 1pm Pac, 4pm Eastern, we have the Content Trends Survey Results webinar where we look at the data from the survey and what it means to content development professionals.

To sign up for these webinars, click here. We also record these, so again, sign up even if the time and date don’t work for you to automatically get the recording the next day.

Conferences

Author-it is attending the STC Summit May15-18 in Sacramento CA. We’ll have a booth and several of our staff will be there (including me), ready to meet you and talk about how our products can help your organization. Additionally, Kirsty Taylor is presenting tips and tricks in Author-it Localization Manager at the Summit. This is a good way to see how a real user works in Localization Manager.

If you’re not at the STC Summit in Sacramento, then maybe you’ll be at the STC India Summit May 7-8 in Bangalore, India. This exciting event includes Saurabh Kudesia talking about Planning, Managing and Implementing Content Variations using Author-it.

We’ll see you soon!

If you’re interested in joining a really great group of people who actually work together as a team, then we have the place for you. We work hard, but have heaps of fun and there are some great perks to being part of the Author-it team!

Technical Writer – Immediate Start – Head Office, Albany, Auckland, NZ

Author-it is hiring a Technical Writer for their Albany office. This needs to be someone who can really hit the ground running.

Do you have 2+ years experience using Author-it and 4+ years practical experience in writing user documentation for a commercial software product? If this describes you and you can say ‘yes’ to the required skills, knowledge and experience requirements below then, send your CV along with a covering brief on how you think you can make a difference at Author-it.

Skills, Knowledge and Experience

• Requires the ability to communicate effectively across different levels of understanding (strong interviewing, listening and documentation skills).
• Strong business and technical acumen with the ability to plan, multi-task and prioritize as well as work flexibly to a deadline.
• Must have strong user documentation, design and presentation skills.
• Comfortable in a fast-paced work and cross-functional team environment.
• Passionate, work smart attitude.
• Must be detail orientated, can follow directions and established documentation guidelines as well as show a talent for new ideas and continuous improvement.

Technical Requirements

Required:

• Degree or certification in IT, technical documentation or relevant experience.
• 2+ years experience using Author-it software products
• 4+ years practical experience in writing user documentation for a commercial software product.
  • 1+ years experience in writing user documentation for web-based software applications.
  • 1+ years experience using SQL and relational databases (e.g. SQL Server, MySQL, and Oracle).
  • 1+ years experience in using Active Directory and working with Microsoft server software.
  • + years experience working with images and graphics, including design and manipulation.
  • 3+ years practical experience using Microsoft Word, Help systems (e.g., HLP, CHM, WebHelp, JavaHelp) and web technologies (e.g. HTML, XHTML, CSS, XML).
  • 1+ years practical experience in quality assurance.
  • Expert command of English spelling and grammar.
  • Experience with Agile development methodologies and SCRUM.
  • Full understanding of the SDLC.

Preferable:

• Familiarity with Ext JS or other rich web application frameworks.
• 1+ years’ experience in writing user documentation for content management software applications.